Rock Is Lit From ‘60s Southern Rock to Nina Simone’s Soul: Peter McDade on His Rock Novel ‘Songs by Honeybird’ with Alan Light on His Bio of Nina Simone, ‘What Happened, Miss Simone?’
We’re starting Season 3 with a bang.
Peter McDade is here to talk about his novel ‘Songs by Honeybird’, a story that features a fictional integrated rock band from 1960s Macon, Georgia, that fell off the musical map after a fire killed the lead singer and guitarist and also . . . possibly, the band’s African American drummer. To put it more succinctly, ‘Songs by Honeybird’ is about a band, a romantic break-up, a Ph.D candidate in History’s research, secrets, fathers, racism, Atlanta, the sixties and the repercussions the South still feels from that period, and . . . a talking dog.
In the last segment of the episode Alan Light joins me to talk about musician, civil rights activist, and my fellow native-North Carolinian Nina Simone. The reason I’ve roped Alan into popping in is because one of the two main characters in ‘Songs by Honeybird’, the piano-playing Nina, is named after the legendary artist. Alan is a rock critic, journalist, former editor-in-chief of ‘Spin’ and ‘Vibe’ magazines, a former senior writer at ‘Rolling Stone’, and author of the book ‘What Happened, Miss Simone?’, a biography of Nina Simone inspired by the Academy Award-nominated Netflix documentary of the same title. You won’t want to miss our convo.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel, @ChristyHallberg, to catch the upcoming YouTube-only full interview with Alan Light about Nina Simone.
MUSIC AND MEDIA IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
- Clip from 'Hell's Kitchen': "It's coming right now, baby"
- Rock is Lit theme music
- Clip from Season 3 Announcement/’Duck Tales’/Disney Channel
- [Guitar Instrumental Beat] Sad Rock [Free Use Music] Punch Deck—"I Can’t Stop”
- Southern Rock Royalty-Free Music
- “Keeping Secrets” by Christine McVie
- “The Grad Student Shuffle” by Chris Fleming
- “Gardenia” from ‘The Weight of Sound’ soundtrack
- “Waiting Here” from ‘Songs by Honeybird’ soundtrack
- “Heavy Heavy Hands” from ‘Songs by Honeybird’ soundtrack
- “Losing Control” from ‘Songs by Honeybird’ soundtrack
- “Feeling Good” (Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse) performed by Nina Simone
- “The Puppy Song” by Harry Nilsson
- “Karma Police” by Radiohead
- “Game On!” by Aqours
- “What’s Your Name” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
- “I Put a Spell on You” (Jay Hawkins) performed by Nina Simone
- Jazz music royalty free background café music [Jazz no copyright]—Creative Commons Music
- “Little Liza Jane” (Huey P. Smith, John Imbragulio) performed by Nina Simone at the Newport Jazz Festival, 1960
- “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” by Nina Simone
- “Stars” (Janis Ian) performed by Nina Simone
- “I Shall Be Released” (Bob Dylan) performed by Nina Simone
- “Ain’t Got No, I Got Life” (Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni, James Rado) performed by Nina Simone
- Jazz music royalty free background café music [Jazz no copyright]—Creative Commons Music
- Swamp Blues Rock Music
- Rock is Lit theme music—royalty free background music
LINKS:
Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451
Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350
Peter McDade’s website: www.peterjmcdade.com
Peter McDade on Twitter: @PeterJMcDade
Peter McDade on Instagram: @peterjmc33
‘The Weight of Sound’ soundtrack on Bandcamp: https://wampusretrospectives.bandcamp.com/album/the-weight-of-sound-original-soundtrack
‘Songs by Honeybird’ soundtrack on Bandcamp: https://wampusretrospectives.bandcamp.com/album/songs-by-honeybird-original-soundtrack
Peter McDade on Season 1 EP15 of Rock is Lit (talking about his novel ‘The Weight of Sound’): https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/rockislitpodcast/petermcdade
Alan Light on Aevitas Creative page: https://www.aevitascreative.com/client/alan-light
Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/
Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, Instagram & YouTube: @ChristyHallberg
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